Jet Shades has enjoyed sizable success with its removable cabin window shades for a wide variety of aircraft. Over a year ago, AvBrief set out to put the Jet Shades to the test in a Cessna 310 twin. While the installation was far from a drop in, it wasn’t overly complicated. Better yet, the shades do a good job of taming cabin temps. In this field report video, Smart Aviator on AvBrief contributor Sy Pinkert talks through the experience.
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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:
The Good: This product DOES make a difference in cabin temp.
The Bad: This product installation is nowhere near as easy as depicted, especially if the window had complex curves in the borders or if you have complex curves in the material bordering your windows. Due to the cost of the product, we elected to contact JetShades and get a recommendation for a professional installer to install the product. He spent ALL DAY – this is a professional installer, mind you, not your average Joe and Jill like my wife and I – with the installation. Understand something: the professional installation was NOT. CHEAP. Ok, so it was expensive as hell. That’s ok as I knew this job was over my pay grade.
My wife was not in the hangar during the installation and the next day when she saw the install she immediately noticed waves in the fitting of the product in the back windows. I called and left VMs for someone at JetShades (Amanda?) and although they told me they would make this right, they never did.
Further, the installer left his six foot ruler behind in my hangar. I asked if he wanted me to ship it back, and when I did Fedex hit me with a huge surplus charge due to the irregular shape and size. Installer never offered to reimburse me.
The Ugly: The waves are still in the back window shades. We leave the shades in all year, hoping the sun would eventually straighten out the quite noticeable waves. Nope – still there. Another reason we leave the shades in all year is because the stupid clips they provide to hold the shades in place do not stick on the leather surrounding the windows. We actually had to superglue some of the clips onto the leather trim to get the stupid things to stick!
Went to Oshkosh this year and specifically sought out the JetShades booth. Lo and behold, guess who is there but Amanda herself. Had a long conversation with her and she assured me she would get all over this and make this right. I waited until after the show ended to attempt contact with Amanda or ANYONE at JetShades for resolution. Crickets. Completely ghosted. Sent numerous emails and left numerous voicemails since the show ended, nothing. Completely ignored.
Bottom line: While the product DOES help, buyer beware! Once they get your money, you no longer exist to them. Their video (and your video) makes the installation look not all that horrific, but I’m here to tell you it’s much harder than the videos make it look. My wife comes from a precision engineering family; trust me, when it comes to precise projects, she is the shiznitz. But this project kicked our phannies. At the end of the day a professional couldn’t get this right and you will be ignored once this company gets your money. I wish I’d never heard of them and went to the AutoZone Aviation Department, purchased some cling-on non-permanent shade material and just use this stuff on the ground.
Michael,
I want to address the suggestion that our video or review downplayed how hard this install is, because that is not accurate. What we documented was our own install on the T310R: precut panels that still needed real trimming, an install we later redid to fix removability issues, and a process we specifically described as taking real effort to get right. In the first review, we documented measuring, trimming, and re-measuring several times per window, and the whole install took about three hours — not exactly a quick job but not incredibly long. We never called this a five-minute job, and the article says so in plain language.
We have also done this install ourselves on a Pilatus PC12NG and a Diamond DA40, in addition to the 310R. We have not run into the waviness or clip-adhesion problems you describe on any of the three. That does not mean your experience is not real, but it does mean the claim that our reporting was misleading does not hold up against what we actually did and wrote.
On customer service specifically, we have dealt with Jet Shades across all three of those installs and have not had the experience you describe. Calls and emails have been answered, and issues we raised got resolved. Our general experience with any company, not just this one, is that being direct and specific up front, in writing, with exactly what you want done, tends to get better results than an open-ended complaint and waiting to see what happens.
We stand by what we reported.
I am not suggesting for one second that what you reported in your video was inaccurate. I am describing what I experienced. Like you, I flew for a living (same airplane as you) and understand how to deal with difficult situations and issues. I attempted my requests for resolution of my issues with discretion, tact and more than a little humor. For example, when I saw Amanda at Oshkosh not only did I try to speak with her regarding my situation when no other customers were present but I was actually apologizing to her for the problems that I was having! I have absolutely no idea why I was ghosted, and in point of fact, I actually asked that question in followup emails and voicemails.
I am happy that you are satisfied with the product. If you feel I was attacking you and/or your report, I apologize as that was absolutely not my intent. My response was posted to let others know that not all interactions with this company go quite as smoothly as yours did.
Thanks for the response back. We are curious what type of aircraft you did the installation in as it is likely useful for others?
Sy (If I may),
Mine is a Beech Debonair with the F33 long cabin windows. It has lots of curves in the shape of the window itself and in the interior panels, and in defense of the pro installer perhaps that was part of the issue. My wife and I watched all of the installation videos and initially tried doing this ourselves. She’s very exacting and using the specific shears they recommend and trimming only 1/16″ at a time we could simply not get the installation completed satisfactorily.
To their credit (back when they were still speaking to me) they did send replacement back window panels and gave the recommendation for a professional installer.
I absolutely admit that on some – many?? – other airplanes with less complex window/interior panel shapes the installation may be less arduous than what we experienced. Amanda was insistent at Oshkosh that they would make it right. Then we spent 30 minutes talking about the Red Sox vs Yankees, so in my mind this would have had a satisfactory resolution – IF they had not ghosted me after Oshkosh.
The Deb is my Other Woman (my wife knows I say that!!) and I’m super particular about my airplane in her appearance and maintenance. Like I originally mentioned, the product DOES WORK. Doesn’t look terrific in the aft windows and we have learned to live with that.
But for what we spent I would have hoped to have been treated better. Between the cost for the product, the cost for the professional installation and the cost of shipping his eighty foot long ruler back to the installer via Fedex in retrospect doing the AutoZone Aviation Department thing would, for us, have been far more cost and time effective.
Thanks for the thoughtful and respectful discussion (which one never sees on social media anymore!).
Mike
ps I LOVED flying the 73. Lots I do not miss about the airline since I retired, (can you say ‘ground stop’) but I miss that airplane. Enjoy it as your retirement will come a lot sooner than you think.
I ordered a complete set for my V35 about a year ago with the intention that I would install them myself. I’ll say at this point that I think I did a pretty good job though I wouldn’t mind replacing one or two and do them over. No, I didn’t say that, I hated the process and the time it took to get them “right”.
First of all the online video instructions make this look like 10 minutes per window max. Reality: I spent closer to 2-3 hours per window. It is a seemingly endless process of marking, cutting, reapplying the edging and refitting.
One window was bigger than the specific piece that was intended for it. I contacted Jet Shades and they kindly replaced that piece (Passenger door window) and the new one was OK. I have to say that my installation looks terrific from the outside and reasonably OK on the inside. No ripples, but a few small gaps around a few of the curved edges.
All that said, I’m doubtful there are any certified installers out there that could do any better than a novice trying this on their own. Yes, there is a learning curve, but I can’t imagine that an individual can get proficient at this and install them in under 12 hours of labor.
I do love the effectiveness of the Jet Shades. They keep the cabin much cooler and when the sun is shining directly on you, it makes it much more bearable.
Well, this is interesting. I just now (27 August 1100 hours) received a response to one of my numerous emails (and phone messages) to JetShades. As Curly used to say on The Three Stoogies, “Ain’t that a co-ink-a-dink.” What’s that old adage about the squeaky wheel? Will keep everyone posted.